The fact is that over the last two weeks, which is when I arrived and pitched my tent in New York, it’s become clear that elite Los Angeles journos have been or will be seeing some of the hot end-of-the-year films — Revolutionary Road, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Gran Torino — before their counterparts in New York. It rankles in particular that the L.A. gang saw Button today (and would have seen it two days ago if that technical projection snafu hadn’t occured) and that some of them are having fluttering whipped-cream orgasms as they write about it, and me and my New Yorker pallies won’t see it until Monday. Not the end of the world, but it would be a tad nicer if both coasts could see each and every Oscar-baiter at more or less the same time, just to keep things even-steven.

“This is a film that works on every level,” Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone wrote earlier today about Benjamin Button. “It is an authentic bit of writing, straight from the heart of Eric Roth, who admitted during the q & a that he lost his parents while writing the script. That kind of sentiment and heartbreak cannot be faked. That kind of inspiration is rare. Unfortunately for him it came at a great cost. Perhaps this is why the truth here, bare as it is, cuts as deeply.

“Combine Roth’s emotional output with David Fincher‘s exactitude and you have something nearly perfect. With so many limbs, emotions and ideas the film shouldn’t work at all, but somehow it does. Much credit is due to Brad Pitt, whose Benjamin Button is a soul-shattering creation, and Cate Blanchett, who bursts forth like her own hurricane. Taraji P. Hensen‘s Queenie is the heart of the film.”

In Contention‘s Kris Tapley attended Saturday afternoon’s industry screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and his three main responses are (a) “The verdict is a big thumbs-up“; (b) “I can’t imagine less than 10 nominations — Best Picture, Director, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Original Score, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup and Visual Effects are virtually assured”; and (c) “Cate Blanchett is suddenly a threat to win the lead actress Oscar walking away…it might be her best work to date.”

And yet he also says that “one of the odd reactions I took away from the film, however, was that the work felt strangely cold. I wasn’t sure whether I meant that in a good way or a bad way, and surely, people were crying their eyes out over this thing, so I might be in a minority. Perhaps it’s my youthful cynicism, who knows, but I thought Fincher brought an arm’s-length approach to the emotions in the film.”

Screenwriter Eric Roth’s reply to this” “[David] Fincher is the kind of director that brings you right up to the point of sentiment and then brings it back. There’s something to be said for that, I think.”

Brad Pitt, says Tapley, “does not blow the role of Benjamin Button out of the water and perhaps he underplays it a bit too much. But it is great to see him happy to get out from underneath his star persona, and with the right level of support, his [Best Actor] nomination could make it 14 in total.” Button, he says, is “the year’s tech giant.”

Here‘s an mp3 of today’s q & a with Fincher, Roth and the tech crew, moderated by The Envelope‘s Pete Hammond.

The Criterion people think they’re being cute by dropping unsubtle hints about their upcoming Friends of Eddie Coyle DVD, which was a done deal months ago. The drawing obviously alludes to the masks worn by Alex Rocco‘s gang in the opening North Shore robbery. The CC guys felt obliged to add the word “Beantown” to the caption. Quit screwing around and release the DVD already.

Everything is stalling and falling apart financially, the entertainment world is clearly feeling the bite and SAG is pushing for a strike after how many months of talking and soft-shoe shuffling to no end? Now they’re striking?

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button “is brilliant and beautiful and beguiling and any other adulatory adjective you can chuck at a movie,” writes Empire blogger Nev Pierce.

“It makes you consider the world anew…at least for a moment (but probably for a lot longer). It is about love, yes, and it is about Death: an event as inevitable as the rising of the sun, as the turning of the Earth. To put it schmaltzily — in a way the film itself would never countenance — it says the grave need not triumph over your day today. Grasp the now. Live in each moment. Take a hand and hold it.”

A N.Y. Times audio interview with the Washington Post‘s Peter Baker covering the back-story about Hillary Clinton‘s decision to accept the Secretary of State post under president Barack Obama .

Here’s a Daily Beast article by Ana Marie Cox about all the establishment righties who favor the Clinton appointment.

Conventional wisdom earlier this week had Twilight doing $55 to $60 million this weekend. Variety‘s Anne Thompson wrote on Thursday that the weekend gross “could exceed $50 million.” Then a friend at Thursday’s Revolutionary Road screening predicted $70 million and I said, “You think so? With just girls?”

Turns out she was right. Fantasy Moguls‘ Steve Mason is reporting a $33 million Friday haul (including Thursday’s midnight showings) and a projected $70 million haul by Sunday evening. A separate studio estimate puts the weekend total at $83 million, counting the Thursday midnight shows, although that’s probably high.

“The smart money follows the 3-day Sex & the City formula,” Mason writes, “with $22.1 million Saturday, down about 33% Friday-to-Saturday, followed by a 30% Saturday-to-Sunday dip to a possible $15.4 million. That would bring the weekend haul to an impressive $70.58 million.”